From "Rocks in My Dryer"

I was looking around at blogs I like to read,
and I thought that I would share
with my blog readers---
the few of you... (we may be small in number, but large in SPIRIT!)
(yeah, I read my own blog also!...hehehe LOL!)
I'm having coffee this morning... YUMMM!

a post that is beautiful--
It's at Rock's in My Dryer,
http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/shannon/

I especially like the bible verse at the end...
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%203:16-19;&version=31;

anyway I just wanted others to read!

Odds and Ends

In the Spirit of the New Year,

I wanted to share some pictures

of current events at our house!

The first picture you see is a look from our living room to the kitchen, for those of you who have been to my house, this is a new look-- the kitchen table is free of junk/clutter! There is still things to be cleaned so that is why the cleaners are all out on the counter~.

In the second picture you see Jessica and Shane in our living room, Jessica was a sweet child and made a bed for Shane and herself-- in front of the TV while Shane was eating his breakfast this morning~ What a sweet big sister!

In the last picture you see a picture of my first power tool... What a beautiful picture, I just want to give it a moment in the Sun.,,,!!!!

My husband got me these power scissors for Christmas, and normally I would of been offended, but these scissors are really ...awesome~ they cut almost anything as quick as a hot knife thru butter! I have already used them with..glee! LOL! I almost wish that Jerry would of taken a picture of me, when I was using the power scissors on the package that held Jessica's Barbie! It was nice to have power over the plastic!

Since we have been cleaning, and keeping clean-

(confession, my house is usually not pretty, it is very cluttered and dirty)-

it is like we are living a different reality!

We have been eating all our meals at the kitchen table, and the kids have even been cleaning up after themselves!

I am very pleased that the house is staying clean, and since I convinced Jerry and the kids to help, I think... it might stay ...clean! I would imagine that there will still be too much stuff, but at least now it looks like a home, and not a house full of clutter that looks like a tornado went off inside!

Anyway, sharing these pictures is my way of putting my New Years' resolution in color.

My pledge is to keep it clean GIRL!

As the year goes by, day by day,

Will you help me to stay focused on this keep it clean task?

Thanks so much!

A short update~ more to follow

We have been busy,

cleaning, giving away and organizing~

and so I haven't been posting ~

Our Christmas was great, but it isn't quite over yet-- We will visit my mom's side of the family on January 6. Jerry has to work the night of the 6, so I am not very eager (yet)to drive with the kids to our destination.

(not very far, but I don't enjoy doing all the driving

and then keeping an eye on the kids while we are there--)

On January 11, I will travel

with my Mom

on an airplane (for the very first time)
to visit my brother,and sister-in-law-for their baby shower.

There hasn't been a ton of stress here at our house,
which is unusual ~ so, I am nervous about posting too positively!-- LOL!

Stay tuned for further updates!

no matter how small your action~

Back on December 9th,

I wrote a post about ...(CMN,E coli,giving back)

and because I did-- Good things happened!

Please, click on the link below and read what was... the Good things!

http://www.babylune.com/no-matter-how-small-your-action-do-what-you-can/#comment-87428
Please, leave me a comment below,or go to the link and leave a comment there!

Thanks !
I am so happy I have tears of Joy...--- cause parenting isn't for Profit! HUH!

Blessings to you and yours this Chrismas season !

As the sickness goes~

This morning I thought that
I would have a lovely wake-up
by having a cup of coffee and
some pumpkin bread
that I made last night,
I did not realize that the
coffee creamer must of been out of date--
and so I spend most of the day
with the puke bucket and the bell
Thank full, am I that Jessica
stayed home from school to
help take care of her sick mom!
Jerry is home to-morrow night!
For us the pain of being sick,
tends to fad when the children
make the effort to care for the mommy!
God bless us, each and every one!

Persimmons,Christmas Mice, and being busy!

Have you ever had a persimmon? Another mother from Shane's school sent us a persimmon, and a card for Christmas~ What an interesting flavor, I don't even know how to describe it, good, but different!
Out neighbor's daughter has a lot of time on her hands,(or she just likes to create!) she sent over a bunch of these little Christmas mice, with a Hersey's kiss for the nose, a chocolate covered cherry for the body and tale, almond slices for the ears and sitting on an mint Oreo cookie!
The neighbor's also sent a book for each of the kids, and some other goodies, that I will have to either, eat, hide ...or pawn off on someone else who isn't watching their calories!

We have been busy here lately, and so I haven't posted in a while--

• On Saturday,Jerry took the kids..."hunting" while I did the most of the Christmas Shopping


• We went bowling as part of Jerry's Christmas Party (First, Shane did want to go, then once we were there, the only thing he really liked was the car driving game that he played with almost all night, and I only let him have two official games.)


• Sunday morning early, Jerry went hunting all by himself in windy,rainy cold weather at the coast. ( I hope the weather brings out the animals he is hunting)


• Sunday after church, Aunt Danni helped me choose new winter coats for the kids, I hate trying to buy something important all by myself, I like to have .... help!


• Sunday the toilet overflowed right after we got home from church(During church, our Pastor Dave, was asking if any of us were being lead to do something, and turn and tell our neighbor, I told my sister-in-law that I felt God leading me to keep cleaning my house and getting rid of things-- what a "funny" sense of humor God has?!
• Monday, Shane and Jessica got their FLU shots(And Mommy got many questions, Why does the shot go in our arm, Why does it hurt,Don't worry,Shane your 5 year old shots will hurt worse...)


• Monday, Jessica came home from school sick (after getting her flu shot)(Shane greeted her with, Well my FLU shot worked, and yours didn't!)


• Tuesday, Jessica stayed home from school (with puking and fever) (I asked Shane to pray for Jessica and he did!)


• I re-scheduled an 3 hour appointment with Early Steps to next Thursday since I think we might still have sick people here.


• Jerry is back from hunting on Thursday night, even if he doesn't have any luck~(yippee!, It isn't much fun being both mommy and daddy!)


• Friday is Jessica's first day of Christmas vacation.


• We have been cleaning out a lot of un -wanted, un -needed items ! We already made a trip to the dump and we are planning another, Spring cleaning in December!

There are still a bunch of things on my list,

I did see a rainbow in the sky today, and I even made some pumpkin bread,

Now if I can just get my son to quit talking, and asking questions-- and GO TO SLEEP!

I can't wait for the silence...

Silent Night, Holy Night!

The Generous December Group Writing Project

I was surfing the web and I came across this blog http://www.babylune.com/

--- that has a Group writing project, the following is what I came up with--- hope you like it!

****************************************************************************

The Generous December Group Writing Project

This December, I am combining my charitable campaign with a group writing project.
On your own blog, write a new post about your favorite charity, social cause or helpful organization.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Children's Miracle Network

When my daughter was born early, she was only 3 pounds 4 ounces, they tell me she wasn't really alive when she was born, they had to get her breathing, give her blood, and get her temperature to be..."normal"-- Because of all the stress on her system, her organs started to shut down, the main worry was her kidneys~

Because of the children's Miracle Network and all the donations, my daughter had medical equipment that was just her size-- During the week she was at our local NICU, we thought that she might need to have kidney dialysis at a week old-- For this procedure, the patient has a specialized plastic tube placed between an artery and a vein in the arm or leg (called a "gortex graft").-I think that the funds for this specialized and super small tube -- would of been paid for by, CMN!

We were really lucky my daughter never had to have dialysis, but we did see a lot of different equipment at our local hospital with tiny plaques that said, donated by CMN.

Think about this~~ how big around is your big toe?That was about how big around my daughters arm was-- the hospital had super small blood pressure cuffs that could be used on a arm or leg of a very small baby.

Every year CMN has a nationwide telethon, and while my daughter was still in the NICU, we were asked to be on TV, during the telethon to talk about why people need to help, by pledging money~ Although I wasn't in the best emotional state, I said Yes! -- I cried during a good portion of my 2-4 minute interview, but I feel like I got to share just a little of my heart to others, and hopefully I caused them to donate!

My daughter got to go home from the hospital on her original due-date, at 5 pounds, I really thought that we were thru all the tough stuff and our life would just get to ..."normal"

I was so WRONG! --- At about 15months old, my daughter went to a fair, and got sick with E coli, (HUS) -- to make the rest of the story short, we stayed at the hospital for about a month; and did have to go through kidney dialysis--- I even got to sleep next to the machine that does the work of cleaning your blood during the dialysis!

Now Jessica is a happy,skinny, somewhat healthy 6 year old with an interest in anything that can be considered gross-- the insides of worms?

Anyway, I just wanted to say that CMN helped our local hospital be able,

to provide my daughter with all the extra small things that she desperately needed,

each and every time we needed them, they were there!

If you are able, just make that pledge,

the donations that you give stay at your local hospital

You might pass someone on the street today, that got help from CMN !

borrowed from a good forward

Three things in life that,

Once gone, never come back -

1. Time

2. Words

3. Opportunity

Three things in life that can destroy a person -

1. Anger

2. Pride

3.Unforgiveness

Three things in life that you should never lose-

1. Hope

2. Peace

3. Honesty

Three things in life that are most valuable -

1. Love

2. Family &Friends

3.Kindness
Three things in life that are never certain -

1. Fortune

2. Success

3. Dreams

Three things that make a person -

1. Commitment

2. Sincerity

3. Hard work

Three things that are truly constant -

Father - Son - Holy Spirit

I ask the Lord to bless you, as I pray for you today;

To guide you and protect you, as you go along your way.

God's love is always with you, God's promises are true. And when you give God all your cares,You know God will see you through.

The Colors of Friendship

Another blog award,

How special I feel! --- I think I will soon figure out a way to return the favor...hummm...

Thank you ! ... Michelle at In The Life of a Child

may you feel better soon!

Bodacious Blog

A while back, I was awarded this award, and I only just figured out how to post it...

I have yet to figure out how to put it on a side bar, but stay tuned!

Sickness Sucks!

A blogger friend of mine, at In The Life of a Child, has been sick, and is still sick ~~

Can I just suggest that we send some prayers her way, and Good Thoughts?--
(My grandmother used to say send good thoughts and that always worked for her)

So... Good Thoughts and Prayers to Michelle, Jacqui and family over at
In The Life of a Child

If you would like, (please do ...) visit her by clicking on the above link, and leave her a comment or prayer I bet that would be nice to read when she is able !

Please~

I just installed--ummm...included a counter,and a poll question

at the very bottom of this blog,

I would love to see...Big numbers, Big numbers---

So, please visit me, comment respond to the poll question

give the gift of big numbers to me! LOL!

I should be cleaning, but I like watching the numbers move even more!

I really am shameless,aren't I?

This time of year

There is something about this time of year

that makes me want to cook and bake warm, comforting food~

I made a pumpkin/banana cake late last night

and also a pumpkin/banana pie

Jessica was very helpfull-- she smashed the banana!

I rolled out some whole wheat noodles just the other day

I cooked a chicken in the crock pot,

Today, I plan to add the chicken and the noodles for

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Things about Shane!

The other morning, Shane woke up and stumbled into the living room to say,
"I am very mad at you, I hate you !"
I gathered him close to me for a hug and then asked why he was mad?
Shane told me that he didn't get to watch the Charlie Brown, Christmas Story on TV, last night!
I explained that I didn't like hearing I hate you, and that instead he should say I'm angry. Then I explained that he had already seen the Charlie Brown, Special-- and it would of been past his bedtime.
Just a moment later, Daddy came out ready to take Jessica to school and Shane's first words to him were, "Daddy, you broke my heart! I wanted to watch Charlie Brown, and you didn't let me!" Daddy explained much like I did about why no one watched the Special.

Last week Shane got upset while on the bus, he wanted a toy from school and so while getting on the bus he was kicking and fighting ~he even threw a toy at her and said I hate you!--
I wonder if the next time he gets mad at the driver-- will he say, you broke my heart?
{This driver hasn't been very receptive to learning how to deal with Shane, so I am trying to be forgiving and patient!}(I am praying that she will answer his with something nice, and not laugh at my son!)

Shane loves to eat frozen peas (go figure?!) anyway last night he was happily eating his dinner, complete with frozen peas, and he complimented me on dinner--(whohooo!)
He took his peas and started to create the outline of a dinosaur on his highchair tray! I didn't have any batteries for the camera, so I didn't get a picture~ but he was busy telling me the name of the dinosaur, and that the dinosaur ate, crocodiles, and alligators!
I was so impressed, usually his drawings don't look like much-- but this creation really did look like a dinosaur!


Now, as I type this Shane wants a computer just for him that only costs $3 bucks! and that EVERYTHING should cost just $3 bucks!